Egyptian General Assassinated in Cairo Hours Before Morsi Trial Convenes

Gunmen on a motorbike killed a senior Egyptian Interior Ministry official outside his home in Cairo on Tuesday, putting pressure on the military-backed government as it struggles to contain an Islamist insurgency.

The death of General Mohamed Saeed, head of the technical office of the minister of interior, suggested militants were stepping up their campaign against the state at a delicate time in Egyptian politics.

Army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who toppled former president Mohamed Morsi in July, is expected to announce his candidacy for the same post in the coming days, a move that will anger the Muslim Brotherhood to which Morsi belonged.

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“Saturday's SAM attack confirms long-held suspicions that at least some of the SAMs smuggled into Gaza, mostly from Libya, have remained in the Sinai,” David Barnett, a research associate at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a contributor to the Long War Journal website, told The Jerusalem Post.

Barnett, who closely follows the ongoing fighting in Sinai, said that additional SAM attacks could alter dimensions of the fighting.

With regard to the assassination in Cairo, he said, “Unfortunately, attacks in the Egyptian mainland appear to be becoming a norm.”

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